Committee support standards

To Senators and Members of Parliament

These standards represent a commitment by staff in the Department of the House of Representatives to provide high quality support services to the investigatory and scrutiny committees supported by the Department.

They also represent a means by which you can assess our services.

The committee support standards are a starting point for us as we strive continuously to improve
our service.

We regularly review our performance, occasionally by way of survey, and we would welcome any comments you have on either our performance or our standards.

These standards complement the Department of the House of Representatives Service Charter which appears in full in the Members’ Handbook.

What we do

We provide administrative, research, analytical and report drafting services to help parliamentary committees fulfil their role in the scrutiny of government activities and the consideration of legislation.

The advice and services we provide are non-partisan, focussing on the needs of the committees appointed by the House rather than the political or electorate interests of Members.

Our commitment

We are committed to providing you with the best level of service possible, within the limit of available resources.
We will do this in a manner consistent with the Parliamentary Service Values and the Parliamentary Service Code of Conduct. In particular, we will:

demonstrate high ethical standards;

be impartial and non-partisan;

provide professional advice and support services;

be responsive to the needs of the House, the Speaker, Members, the public and other clients;

use resources responsibly and cost-effectively; and

treat all persons with respect and courtesy.

We can be contacted during normal business hours or after hours by arrangement with committee secretaries.

Our service standards

We will:

provide advice, information and services that are timely, accurate, clear and as complete as possible;

if we are unable to respond immediately to requests for advice, information or services, we will let you know what steps we are taking to provide a response and agree a timeframe with you, or direct you to someone who may be able to help; and

ensure that information on our website is up to date.

We will also:

support the information and evidence gathering activities of committees by providing well informed and balanced research and analytical services and effective administrative support;

develop and implement strategies to promote public awareness of and participation in committee inquiries;

provide briefing papers for private meetings and for information gathering activities of committees (for example, public hearings, inspections or seminars) in a time frame that is acceptable to each committee;

provide report drafting services that result in clearly expressed, well structured, well informed and well argued draft reports that, in the first instance, express the views of the committee chair;

provide publication services that result in the timely presentation and distribution of committee reports;

ensure timely placement on the House of Representatives website of submissions to committee inquiries, transcripts of evidence, committee reports and government responses to committee reports; and

develop and implement strategies to ensure the effective promotion of the results of committee inquiries.

Feedback

If you have any comments or suggestions for improvements please let us know.

If you have any concerns with any aspect of the information, advice or services we have provided to you, you may care to raise your concerns with the secretary of your committee in the first instance. If this is not successful, contact he Clerk Assistant (Committees) on: